Eszter Hargittai, Northwestern

Eszter Hargittai is an Assistant Professor for the Department of Communication Studies, Department of Sociology, and the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. She completed her Ph.D. in the Sociology Department at Princeton University and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton and remains affiliated with the Center as a Visiting Research Collaborator. Her main research interests are the social and policy implications of information technologies and she is especially interested in how IT may contribute to or alleviate social inequalities. Much of her work has looked at differences in people's Web-use skills. In particular, she studies people's information-seeking behavior and thus have also been following the evolution of search engines and the organization and presentation of online content. Additional research interests include the political uses of information technologies and how IT is influencing the types of cultural products people consume. For more information, visit Eszter's personal website.